


Chamomile

by ImperialMint



Series: silence speaks for me [eruri week 2013] [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperialMint/pseuds/ImperialMint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day One of Eruri Week: Cleanup.</p><p>Doctor Levi of Sina Hospital didn't like the thought of his patient in a sub-par room so he took it upon himself to clean it. A few soggy apple slices, a large amount of gifted flower baskets and a meeting or two with an eccentric friend, Levi might just have found himself a keeper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chamomile

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day one of Eruri week! Today's theme is 'cleanup' and while this goes more off on a tangent, it did originate from the prompt. Besides, prompts are prompts and tangents usually are good things.
> 
> I have very little medical knowledge so just pretend that this is what happens in an actual hospital. This is also un-betaed so any mistakes are my own and I'd appreciate that if any are found that they be pointed out!

“Take him to recovery room B, we’ll need to monitor him closely.” Levi walked to the cleaning station, stripping his overalls and gloves and placing them in the bin. Petra stood at his side, clipboard in hand, and sighed.

“All the recovery rooms are full. Nile’s been sending his patients to our rooms. I’ve filed about a million complaints, but-“ Levi cut her off as he turned the tap on with an elbow, taking care to rise his hands thoroughly. She waited for him to finish, as she’d learnt to long ago.

“Don’t tell me someone authorised this surgery without giving him a recovery room,” Levi muttered under his breath, exiting the cleaning station and surveying the hall with narrowed eyes. At least his patient wasn’t left rotting in the hallway, that was something at least.

“Nope,” Petra said brightly and Levi wondered how he’d been so lucky as to have her assigned to his team. “Nurses set up another room while you were in surgery. It’s… not ideal, but it’s clean, had all the equipment he needs and is private.”

Levi raised an eyebrow as she led him through the corridor. They’d dealt with not-ideal conditions before, but this time Levi had a thought that they’d shoved his patient in a broom cupboard or something.

“It’s not a supply cupboard,” Petra said quickly, laughing slightly. “It’s the room opposite the nurses station.”

Which was the old nurse’s station, before they decided the room had too much mildew and the heating too temperamental. Levi wouldn’t have wished that room upon Nile (and Levi hated Nile), let alone a patient he had just been working on.

“I’ll try and get a transfer as soon as possible, but it’s been so busy lately I don’t think it’ll happen.” Petra bit her lip and Levi knew he had no hope in moving his patient then. If Petra couldn’t find a solution, no one could.

“Well at least he won’t need to be moved when he comes around. There’s no point. Tell the nurses that in handover.” Levi rolled his shoulders, preparing to return to office to see what mayhem had arisen while he’d been gone. No doubt a lot of paperwork and a lot of rounds to get to.

“If you see Auruo, send him to my office. I need a report of his rounds.” Petra nodded and Levi threw a look to his patient’s room, noticing the bustle of nurses as they settled him into recovery. It went against every procedure Sina Hospital had, technically, but at least the patient had a room.

As soon as he entered his office, Levi grabbed his thermos and poured himself a cup of dark, bitter coffee. He was a habitual tea drinker usually, but when he’d been at the hospital all day, the caffeine was a welcome perk. He sank into his chair and looked down at the file Petra had handed to him before he left, filling in what he needed to on the surgery. Everything had gone according to plan and the surgery itself had been minor – to simply place some pins into the man’s ribs after an unfortunate car accident. The man hadn’t been in the cars, but on the pavement. A simple case of wrong place, wrong time.

Even opening up the man’s chest wasn’t enough to spike Levi’s interest, but the fact the man had only one arm had been interesting. It was in his records – of course – and Levi knew the man had lost it on an undercover police mission, but Levi was still intrigued nonetheless.

“You wanted to see me boss?” an annoying drawl sounded from the open doorway and Levi looked up. Auruo held a bunch of folders in his arms and Levi finished signing off his intriguing patient’s records and gestured for the new workload.

Med-school had warned Levi of the mountains of paperwork, but he’d never despised paper so much before. After five sets of signatures, Levi looked at his fob watch and rubbed his eyes. It had been a long day, but he didn’t have long left. He’d need to begin his handover to his cover and he packed up his folders, stretching as a dark haired man poked his head around the door. 

“Doctor Levi,” he said respectfully and Levi fought the urge to roll his eyes. Eren Yeager had developed a bit of a starstruck crush on Levi back in his intern days and it had never completely faded. Still, Eren was competent and understood what was needed of him, even if he had been a little too green and eager when he’d first started. 

Levi left fifteen minutes later, scarf covering the lower half of his face and scowl covering the rest. He was exhausted and needed to be back at nine the following day, a schedule that was slowly, but surely, killing him. 

Before he left, though, Levi couldn’t help but poke his head in on his patient. Mr Smith was sleeping soundly and Levi noted that he had woken up a while ago and was responding well. When it was clear Mr Smith wasn’t going to wake, Levi turned to inspect the room, the gentle beep and whir of machines filling his ears as his eyes looked at the walls. They were clean by hospital standards, but Levi wasn’t happy. He turned with a grunt, shoving his chin further into his scarf and driving back to his small apartment where he had a fine dinner of instant noodles and fell asleep on the sofa.

Levi woke before the alarm and showered, gathering a small bag of items he needed and leaving early. No one commented as he strode towards Mr Smith’s room, decked in scrubs and a disposable apron, mask covering his face. Everyone in Sina had learnt long ago that that was Levi’s battle outfit and he was not to be disturbed. 

Mr Smith was still asleep and Levi spared him a glare before getting out his cleaning products from his bag. They were suitable for their environment and safe, chemicals that would destroy most of the bacteria and dirt lingering in his patient’s room, but not damage Mr Smith.

Levi set to work. He had never been afraid to get down on his knees and scrub and he made quick work of it too. He hadn’t come in too early, just early enough to get the job done.

“I didn’t know doctors took on jobs for the cleaners,” a voice broke the silence, thick with sleep, but deep and just as comforting as it had been pre-surgery.

“Mr Smith,” Levi said with a nod, not pausing in a single wipe of the radiator he was working on. “It’s good to hear you sound so spritely.” He looked over to see Mr Smith pushing himself up on the bed to a sitting position. Stubble framed his jaw and Levi knew he should look away, but how much attention did a radiator need anyway?

“Petra did say you liked a clean room,” Mr Smith said and yawned widely, covering his mouth with a large hand. Levi finished up the radiator, packing way his cleaning supplied into their bag. He threw the cloths into the brown bin, washing his hands up in the sink. Mr Smith was silent the entire time and Levi looked at him when he was drying his hands.

“I like things to be clean,” he said, though there was no need to explain himself. 

“Thank you,” Mr Smith said, running his hand over his chest gently, where Levi had sliced him open. “And please call me Erwin. You’ve had your hands inside me, there’s no need for formalities.”

Well, Levi supposed, when one put it that way.

“Then it’s just Levi,” he returned and the smile Erwin gave him was in equal parts ridiculous and fantastic. “I’ll be around later, I suppose,” he said and left without waiting for a reply, keeping his head down low until he was in his office and he could sit down.

The day continued as a normal day did. Three emergencies arose and Levi left six hours later that he was scheduled in for. He skipped dinner for bed and woke early, again, to return to Erwin’s room for a quick scrub down. 

“It’s not that I don’t trust the cleaners here,” Levi said as he worked the mop he’d collected from the cleaning cupboard into the floor. “It’s just that I have high standards and this room is a shitty room. I like to keep the amount of patient deaths in my care down, thank you very much.”

Erwin looked up from the fruit salad he was poking a fork at and hummed in agreement. He speared a wrinkles grape, showing it to Levi in a disturbed flourish, before shoving it in his mouth and chewing with his eyes closed.

“You know, I was on liquid food when my arm first came off. Even that wasn’t as bad as this breakfast.” He waved a limp apple slice in Levi’s direction for emphasis.

“I’ll bring in something continental tomorrow then,” Levi muttered. He had every intention of doing it, but his tone suggested something else and it earned him one of Erwin’s wide smiles.

“You’re very kind, Levi,” he said and Levi paused in wringing the mop out. Even in all his years as a doctor, no one had ever called him kind. Not even Petra or Eren.

“I wouldn’t know about that,” Levi said, checking his fob and cursing. Gunter had said he was stopping by early to brief Levi about surgery he had in an hour or so. “I’ll be back later to check on your stitches. You might even be able to go home soon – the only reason you’re here is because you have on arm and live alone. Apparently that makes you less capable.” 

Levi checked Erwin’s reaction and was saddened, though unsurprised, to see a look of acceptance.

“It’s utter bullshit if you ask me, they just want to make sure that you don’t die right after surgery and we don’t get sued. Selfish fuckers.” Levi shot Erwin a small smile. “If it were up to me, you’d be out of this skanky room and back where you belong.”

“I’m used to people underestimating my capabilities,” Erwin said, stretching his legs under the sheets and abandoning his soggy fruit. “I’ve cleared things up with work and there’s nothing else I’ll be missing.”

Levi would have found that a little sad if he’d had his own life outside of the hospital. Sina was his life.

“Well at least you have a TV in here,” Levi said as he packed his supplies away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Erwin bid him farewell cheerfully and Levi made his way to his office. He didn’t know why he kept returning to Erwin’s room, but it had become a steadfast part of his morning routine. It wasn’t as if the room really needed the cleaning – it was cleaned in the day by the actual hospital cleaning staff – but Levi wanted to be there. He wanted to see Erwin, even if it was just for a short time, and he didn’t understand why. Levi had never felt like this towards anyone before and he didn’t understand why. 

Petra and Erd kept him company over lunch, exchanging stories of the stubborn old woman who refused to enter surgery when there was someone next to her who, in her eyes, needed it more. She’d eventually quietened down when Petra had explained how urgent her own surgery was and the woman had bought an entire florists’ worth of flowers when she’d gone home. Petra had about five plant baskets in her office and had brought three for Levi.

“I don’t see why we can’t hand them off to patients,” Levi grumbled, looking at an arrangement of purple and white flowers, taking another bite of his sandwich. 

“Policy,” Erd said, rolling his eyes. “We could probably sneak a few into some rooms with longer time patients, but that new policy the king passed means no flowers in most patients’ rooms due to risk of infection.”

Levi rolled his eyes too. Soon they’d have to go through twenty cleaning stations just to say hi to a receptionist. Clean was good, but too clean brought resistance and Levi didn’t want to deal with a superbug that refused to die in his lifetime. They were all overworked as it was.

“I’ll dump a few in Erwin’s room,” he said simply, freezing when Petra turned to stare at him, eyes wide. 

“Erwin as in Mr Smith? As in Mr Smith whose ribcage we stapled back together after two idiots collided into him Mr Smith?” Levi didn’t miss the look she threw Erd and scowled. Why was Petra making such a big deal?

“You’re not a particularly approachable man,” Erd said gently, as if he was talking to someone particularly sensitive. Levi bristled and took a savage bite of his sandwich. He wasn’t the friendliest, but he got by. 

“So it’s a surprise that you’d willingly spend time with a patient,” Petra said gently. “The nurses said you’ve been in every day cleaning.”

Ah, so they’d already known.

“The room he’s in is fucking disgusting,” Levi said, shrugging. It shouldn’t be this big a deal if he wanted to see a patient or clean said patient’s room. And perhaps he liked spending time with someone who wasn’t a doctor.

“We never said it was a bad thing,” Erd said with a smile. “It’s good to branch out. Mr Smith seems like a decent guy.” Levi raised an eyebrow. That meant Erd had read his file then. Apparently when Levi did something, everyone had to know everything.

“Get back to work,” Levi grouched, throwing the remnants of his lunch into a bin. “And throw some flowers in Erwin’s room. He’s a nice guy and they won’t discharge him yet. He could use the company.”

Levi was glad to have worked with Erd and Petra for a long while. They understood a dismissal when Levi wanted space and they were the best team he could have ever asked for. If he ever had to lose one of them (and Levi knew Nile had been asking around for new team members, though rumour had it he had his eye on Eren more than Levi’s members, but Nile was a cunt so who knew), Levi would do anything to get them back.

None of them needed to know that though.

The next day, he turned up to Erwin’s room with a bad of heated pastries and two cups of coffee. He’d abandoned the cleaning supplies for the day and sat in the lumpy chair by Erwin’s bed, dishing out the food and coffees without a word.

“I guessed how you liked it,” Levi said, throwing some sugar packets down. He’d gotten them both one of those flavoured coffees, a seasonal gingerbread or something, and Erwin sipped appreciatively, smiling at Levi.

“This is certainly better than the fruit I had yesterday.” Erwin took a bite of the chocolate croissant and practically melted into his bed. Levi smiled to himself nibbling his own pastry. He felt warm and it had nothing to do with the coffee in his left hand.

“Doctor Ral came in yesterday. She dropped off the flowers.” Erwin gestured with the end of his croissant and Levi looked at the flowers lining the back of the wall. Petra had arranged them on the ground in some fancy colour gradient pattern and Levi wondered if he needed to assign her another patient (or five) as she clearly had too much free time.

“We needed somewhere to put them,” Levi offered in explanation. “This was the best place.”

Erwin didn’t ask why it was the best place and simply smiled. He had a smudge of chocolate by the corner of his lips and Levi wanted to wipe it away, though that was highly unprofessional. Doctors shouldn’t become friends with patients, but Erwin was already in Levi’s category of ‘more than a patient’. 

“A nurse said I should be discharged in a few days,” Erwin said, looking at Levi with a soft look on his face. “What does my doctor think?”

Levi rather thought it sounded as though Erwin was flirting with him, but he’d never been an expert on flirting. 

“Your doctor thinks you should get out of this room as soon as possible.” Levi drained his coffee cup and collected Erwin’s folder. It was true, Erwin had been given one more night for supervision and then could be discharged. Seeing the words, Levi felt his stomach drop and he stood, throwing away his rubbish.

“I’ll be around later I suspect,” he said, nodding to Erwin and escaping the room as Erwin opened his mouth to speak. 

He managed to make it to Erwin’s rooms just after lunchtime. Auruo was camping in his office, hiding from Petra for some bizarre reason Levi didn’t want to know (and it wasn’t the first time that this had happened) and he’d started rounds early. 

“Mike! Stop being so heavy handed! Look, Eren’s is beautiful! Why can’t you do yours like his?” 

Levi paused in the threshold, not sure exactly what he’d walked into. The flower baskets had been moved around a handful of chairs, the wilted flowers plucked from their stalks and fashioned into little garlands that sat on the heads of the room’s occupants.

Three people had joined Erwin and Levi turned to the most unexpected for an explanation. Eren flushed under his garland of yellow and orange flowers, ducking his head slightly.

“My sister and best friend work for Erwin. He’s a good cook.” Well, no one had ever said Eren was eloquent. He was a good doctor, but Levi had learnt long ago that his tangents were best going along with.

“Well,” Levi said, looking to the two strangers. A woman was still throwing flowers at the unknown man and he cleared his throat. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Erwin’s doctor.” 

The woman turned with a wide grin and the man shuffled back in his chair, as if glad someone else had caught her attention. Eren snuck out the door, flower garland still on his head. (He’d probably go visit one of the paediatric doctors, Christa, and let the children crawl over him with his new hairstyle. That was what Eren was like.)

“I’m Hange,” the woman said, sticking her hand out for Levi to shake. He nodded his head at her instead. She’d been playing with flowers for god knows how long and he didn’t want to have to wash his hands twenty times just to get dirt from under his nails.

“And this is Mike. We’ve known Erwin since he was a scrawny teenager and work with him, so if you have any questions or want to hear any juicy stories, come straight to me!” Hange started giggling manically and Levi raised an eyebrow.

“Hange,” Erwin said, voice low and dangerous, the kind of voice Levi wouldn’t mind hearing in the bedroom – and that wasn’t a thought he particularly wanted to have right now.

“Well, Pixis is breathing down my next anyway. Since we’ve lost our head of strategy he’s been putting Mike through his paces and demands my department brews him free booze.” Hange winked at Levi before turning back to Erwin. “Moblit’s suffering more than anyone. I’ve taken to hiding in your office whenever Pixis comes sniffing round.”

“Moblit suffers a lot more than you seem to realise,” Mike piped up and he stood, towering over them all. “Let’s let the doctor actually do his work. Thank you,” he added in an undertone to Levi as he passed, and Levi was sure he wasn’t thanking him for his precision with a scalpel or his fantastic suturing skills.

“Your friends seem nice,” levi commented as Hange was finally pulled through the door. “And I didn’t know you knew Doctor Yaeger.”

Erwin smiled easily, shrugging his shoulders as Levi flipped through his vitals chart. 

“Eren’s sister and friend work in my division. Armin’s actually suiting up well to direct our division one day and Mikasa is like a one woman army. I have them over for dinner occasionally as a thank you – you know how youngsters are with eating too, living off those crap instant noodles and all,” Levi nodded, trying not to let on that his diet mainly consisted of those noodles and yes, he could confirm they were crap.

“One day they asked to bring Eren and, well, he’s a sweet kid.” Erwin’s smile faded and Levi knew exactly what he was thinking.

“But he can be a devil,” he supplied and Erwin nodded, grateful someone understood. 

Levi put Erwin’s folders away, satisfied with everything the nurses had given. Erwin was ready to be discharged that evening.

“And well, Hange is Hange and… well.” Erwin looked uncomfortable and Levi raised an eyebrow. “I wanted to introduce you properly when I get out. I was wondering if you’d come for a meal at my house when I get out.” Erwin smiled sheepishly.

“Just to say thank you. Hange and Mike will be there and I can even invite the kids if it’d make you more comfortable to have Eren there.” Erwin took Levi’s silence as an objection and shook his head slightly. “Of course it’s okay if you don’t want to, I-“

“It would be nice,” Levi said hurriedly, then paused. The words had burst from his mouth like fireworks and he shifted his weight back a little, uncomfortable with his small outburst. He wasn’t supposed to lose his composure around Erwin.

“I would appreciate it greatly,” he continued, clearing his throat. “And you’re free to go this evening, actually.”

Erwin’s eyes widened in surprised and he ducked his head. The flowers around his head slipped down his forehead and he nodded to himself.

“Well that’s good news then, really,” he said to himself and Levi nodded, unsure what else to do. “When’s your next day off?”

“Tomorrow, and I’m off for three days,” Levi replied and Erwin smiled, pushing the flowers back to their proper place. 

“I’ll give you my phone number,” Erwin said, reaching for the mobile at his side. “And we’ll arrange a night.”

The night turned out to be sandwiched in the middle of his free days. Petra dragged Auruo with her to watch Levi struggle to find something to wear, sipping wine as Levi suffered. He left them in his apartment with clear instructions not to fuck on his bed (or anywhere, but that was unlikely because despite her innocent façade, Petra was a she-devil) and further instructions to lock up when they left. Everyone on Levi’s team had a key to his house, that was the extent to which he trusted them.

Following the instructions Erwin had texted him, Levi ended up sitting parked outside Erwin’s apartment complex fifteen minutes early. He shot Erwin a text and walked to the door, Erwin coming to meet him.

He was dressed in a red sweater and smiled as if Christmas had come early when he met Levi’s eyes. Levi felt his heart skip a beat and he smiled slightly, holding out the bottle of wine he’d brought with him.

“The kids are here already, but Hange and Mike will be late. They always are,” Erwin said as he held the door open with one shoulder, letting Levi in. 

Eren was quick to introduce him to Mikasa and Armin when Levi entered Erwin’s flat. Erwin vanished off to the kitchen and Eren dragged Levi to the table to meet his family, saying he was glad Levi could make it and hoped they’d spend more time together from now on. Levi nodded, more interested in how shoddily the table had been set up.

“You’ve done a shit job,” he said simply, nodding for Eren to hand the fork he was laying down over. It took Levi a total of three minutes to sort out the mess of the table and, when he was done, everything was perfectly shined and aligned.

“Wow,” the blond one – Armin – said. “That’s impressive.”

There was no sarcasm in his voice and Levi thanked him quietly. 

“Could I borrow Levi for a moment?” Erwin said, head poking around the kitchen door. “Hange should be buzzing up in a while anyway, would one of you make sure she doesn’t get into someone else’s house… again?”

The kitchen was a small room, messy and everything Levi’s wasn’t. Erwin was frying something in a pan and he returned to it, stirring it and turning to Levi.

“Thank you for sorting me out,” he said, leaving his spoon for a moment to tap at his chest. “I think I had the worst luck that day, until I was assigned you as my doctor.”

Levi looked away, nodding and focusing on a particularly nasty looking plate by the sink. Whatever it had held had crusted on the edge and he wondered if Erwin was really as wonderful as his fantasies had supplied.

“But I also wanted to say thank you for coming to clean my room. I think I would have exploded from boredom without your visits.” There was no smile this time and Levi felt a shiver run down his spine. He took a step closer and was about to reply when a familiar laugh burst into the room next door.

“Levi!” Hange shouted, practically running to his side. “It’s wonderful to see you! Erwin won’t stop telling us how excited he is for you to be here.”

She rattled on about something or other, dragging Levi away from the kitchen. He threw Erwin a look over his shoulder and felt something warm lodge in his chest at the look Erwin gave him. 

He thought about it over dinner, the look in the back of his mind as he joined in conversations and listened to Mike give details about the latest case the department had been given. Erwin’s food was delicious and the company the best he’d had in a while (he never got to sit down properly with his team, something he’d have to change in the near future) and Levi felt happy, for once.

Levi also didn’t miss the soft smiles Erwin kept shooting in his direction. They were opposite one another at the table and, well, Levi might have returned his fair share of shy smiles too.

The trio were the first to leave, Mike and Hange leaving soon after. Levi’s eyes strayed to the kitchen and he padded there wordlessly, digging out the washing up liquid and filling the sink. What he couldn’t load into the dishwasher he would hand wash and he was about halfway through when Erwin entered, his jumped sleeves rolled up and hair tousled slightly. He looked exhausted and Levi paused in cleaning the plate he was holding.

“You look tired,” he commented and Erwin hummed in agreement.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately,” he said ambiguously and Levi was about to ask what had caught his thoughts when Erwin move forwards, quicker than a man of his height had any right to be.

Levi dropped the plate back into the sink as Erwin kissed him, pushing him against the draining board slightly. Levi only pulled away when he slipped on some suds and hurried to dry his hands, dragging Erwin back down into a kiss again.

“I’ve been waiting days to do that,” Erwin whispered against his lips, kissing him slowly again and again.

“I’m glad we finally did,” Levi replied, eyes dark and only for Erwin. “And now shut up, because I want to do it again.”

He wrapped his arms tighter around Erwin and kissed him, intending never to let go.


End file.
